


Young Justice Redux - Kinships

by ClockworkFirefly



Series: Young Justice Redux [1]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Ensemble Cast, Eventual Romance, Family Issues, Friendship, Gen, Multi, Serial Killers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25905838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockworkFirefly/pseuds/ClockworkFirefly
Summary: Set directly after Young Justice: Outsiders, the Team enlists the help of Joseph "Joey" Wilson, a brilliant, but socially awkward inventor, to create innovative new gadgets for them that would aid the young heroes in their battles against the Light and other super-villains. However, despite his razor-sharp intellect and phenomenal craftsmanship skills, Joey is also related to some of the most dangerous and utterly ruthless assassins in the world. Determined to not follow in his family's footsteps, Joey must learn how to cooperate with his newfound allies while also finding a way to take down his older brother, Grant Wilson. who happens to be an infamous, psychopathic serial killer.
Relationships: Artemis Crock/Joseph Wilson, Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Bart Allen/Eduardo Dorado Jr., Dick Grayson & Joseph Wilson, Grant Wilson & Joseph Wilson, Grant Wilson & Joseph Wilson & Rose Wilson, Harper Row & Joseph Wilson, Jaime Reyes/Traci Thurston, Jason Todd & Joseph Wilson, Joseph Wilson & Rose Wilson, Joseph Wilson & Slade Wilson, Kaldur'ahm & Joseph Wilson, Kon-El | Conner Kent & Joseph Wilson, Kon-El | Conner Kent/M'gann M'orzz, M'gann M'orzz & Joseph Wilson, Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake, Tim Drake & Joseph Wilson
Series: Young Justice Redux [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1304546
Comments: 14
Kudos: 16





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> The original members of the Team discuss the possibility of hiring a new ally with some interesting familial relations.

**HAPPY HARBOR**  
March 16, 10:50 

"Joseph Wilson, twenty-two years old, graduated from Harvard University at age sixteen, and currently works as a freelance inventor". 

Dick Grayson, one of the Team's very first members, was reading from a holographic interface that was mounted inside his wristwatch for conspicuousness. Standing next to him were two of his oldest companions, Kaldur'ahm, the newest incarnation of Aquaman, and Artemis Crock, who went by the codename "Tigress". In front of the trio were Conner Kent, the binary clone of both Superman and Lex Luthor, and his fiancé, M'gann M'orzz, the niece of Martian Manhunter. The couple were sitting at a small wooden table drinking some coffee while the other three heroes chose to stand besides them looking over the holographic file. All of them were dressed in their civilian clothing as they all agreed to meet in a more casual area to discuss an intriguing proposition. 

"Hailed as one of the most brilliant minds in the entire world, Joseph Wilson has chosen to avoid a life of luxury and prominence in the scientific industry in order to take on smaller projects around the world", Dick said as he turned off the interface.

"Joseph's someone who makes the impossible possible", Kaldur answered in a serene tone, "He has the IQ of 216, an eidetic memory, an encyclopedic knowledge of a wide variety of different fields, every kind of academic degree known to man, and can speak seven different languages". 

"Believe it or not, but he's also created some devices that people use nearly every day. I mean, who would believe that he invented the anti-theft lunchbox or the solar-powered potato peeler?", Artemis chimed in.

"Not that I don't find this interesting by any means, but why did you call us all here to discuss this guy?", Conner asked. 

"Because we think that Wilson could be of great help to not only the Team, but the League, the Outsiders, and perhaps the entire world", answered Dick. 

"Does he have any powers?", M'gann asked, which led to Conner nodding in agreement to her question. As she asked this, Artemis walked over to the couch and picked up a brown leather tote bag that was resting on top of the sofa. 

"Not exactly, unless his brain counts as a superpower", Dick joked as Artemis pulled out a laptop from the bag and placed it on the table.

"We personally believe that having him by our side could be of great benefit to all our teams. We may have some talented technicians, but Joseph's almost otherworldly intellect and handiwork skills overshadows them immensely. New equipment and appliances that would only have been thought of in science fiction stories would be reality and at our fingertips", said Kaldur.

"Not only that, but Joseph has some interesting connections", Artemis commented.

Conner and M'gann shared a confused look with one another until the former finally spoke up, "What kinds of connections?"

"Joseph's father is Deathstroke".

The band-aid was pulled off quickly, the couple looked at their friends in shock. Deathstroke was considered to be one of the most elusive, cunning, and blood-thirsty assassins in the world. Considering the Team had just recently dealt with him during the mission that led to the betrayal of Geo-Force and the revelation that his sister, Terra, was a mole, there was some understandable concern at even thinking of bringing his son into the mix.

"Why would we trust someone who's father is one of our sworn enemies?", a rightfully disturbed Conner asked.

"Why would we have kept around someone who's the illegitimate child of the world's richest megalomaniac?", Artemis responded back.

It was almost as if Artemis shot an arrow into Conner with that comeback. 

"We've done _extensive_ research into Joseph's connections with anyone remotely associated with his father", Dick said putting emphasis on the word "extensive", "We secretly tapped into his phone, computers, and even tracked him remotely for the past few weeks, but nothing has shown up".

"Plus, he seems to be the only child of Deathstroke who wasn't actively a part of his life. Joseph Wilson was taken away by his mother, Adeline Kane, when he was only a toddler. Unfortunately, Kane died in a car accident immediately afterwards, so Joseph was sent to a Gotham City orphanage. Joseph's siblings went on to receive tutelage from their father and became masters in the art of assassination", Kaldur said. 

"Wait", M'gann interrupted, "If Joseph has siblings, then that must mean his brother is-"

"Grant Wilson", interjected Conner.

There was a long silence, everyone's mood had suddenly turned grim and somber. About a minute passed before someone began the conversation again.

"What if he's like his brother?", M'gann questioned.

" _No one_ is like Grant Wilson", Kaldur firmly stated.

“Not everyone is like their families, I’m certainly nothing like my father or my sister”, added Artemis.

“What do you two say? You think we should give Joseph a chance?”, asked Dick.

Conner and M’gann shared a brief look with one another, they were both toying around with every circumstance that could happen inside their heads. Finally, after a minute or two of contemplating, M’gann spoke for the two after relaxing a little bit.

“I guess it’s worth a shot”.

“Fantastic!”, Artemis said pleased at the couple’s decision, “Because right about now, I should be getting an alert from my phone stating that-”

Just like that, Artemis’s phone went off with a notification alert. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and proceeded to silence it. 

“It’s time for the video call”. 

“What video call?”, M’gann questioned. 

“We scheduled a video call with Joseph right about now”, Kaldur answered, which earned another stunned look from Conner and M’gann. Artemis opened up the laptop and began logging into the video chat service. 

“As the new Team co-leader, I scheduled a video conference with Joseph about a week ago for this time exactly. Thought it’d be courteous to the rest of the original Team members to let you in on it beforehand”, Artemis said teasingly with a smirk.

“And if you were still hesitant on giving him a chance, hopefully meeting him face-to-face would be able to change your minds a bit”, Dick added

The chat service opened up two screens, one for Artemis’s laptop and one for Joseph’s laptop. The screen for Joseph’s laptop was completely black and everyone was staring at it intently waiting for him to join in. All of the sudden, the screen opened up to someone’s living room which was incredibly cluttered and unkempt. Various tools and notebooks with diagrams and equations drawn in them were eschewed everywhere. Books were also scattered around with gigantic stacks of dusty, unread novels being placed in any location possible. Perhaps the most bizarre factor in this room was what appeared to be an incomplete android at the far end of the screen. The bottom half of a humanoid automaton was completely immobile and was being used as a makeshift coat rack. The whole room was almost similar to that of a library that hadn’t been visited by anyone in the past few decades. 

“Hold on a second!”, a voice yelled off-screen as some of the Team members exchanged looks with one another.

“I feel like I’m looking inside the house of Victor Frankenstein”, Conner joked as booming footsteps were heard walking towards the screen. It took a brief moment for the screen to focus, but as soon as it did, the Team were staring at what looked to be a man in a makeshift gas mask with large wires and tubes coming out of the sides. The mask was made of an old brown material that had an array of unflattering stitches all over the face. The circular lenses of the mask were completely black and made it look even more jarring. The uncanny, somewhat disturbing mask made M’gann and Artemis jump ever so slightly while Conner and Kaldur looked at one another with obviously puzzled expressions. The only who didn’t react was Dick as the individual began taking apart his mask piece-by-piece to not frighten any potential new associates.

“I apologize for my off-putting appearance, this is supposed to be a prototype for a new bulletproof and nearly indestructible gas mask for troops across seas to use! Unfortunately, its physical presence has something left to be desired”, the individual quipped as he was now completely unmasked, “I’m Joseph Wilson, but you can call me “Joey”. You should be lucky, you’re now in the presence of unparalleled, intellectual brilliance”.

Joey was a young, fairly handsome young man with a noticeably tall, slim frame. Whether he was born naturally thin or if he doesn’t get enough sustenance, Joey was quite slender to say the least. He had thick dark brown hair that was generally unkempt, yet short enough to not reach his shoulders. Joey’s skin was quite pale and scattered with a few freckles, while his eyes were a dark green color almost similar to that of an emerald. He also had a pair of black browline glasses on his clean-shaven face. Joey’s chin and nose weren’t terribly noticeable, yet he had a relatively large pair of ears that could be seen from ten miles away. During the video conference, he wore a dark purple overcoat with metallic silver buttons attached to the sides and had his coat lapels sticking up. Underneath the colorful coat was a dark blue cardigan, a plaid dress shirt, and a burgundy necktie. While his lower half wasn’t initially visible during the video call, Joey wore a pair of dark blue baggy trousers and a pair of black leather ankle-high boots. Joey sat-up straight on a comfortable maroon armchair ready to discuss possible business endeavors with the Team. 

“So what can I do for you today?”

Artemis chimed in, “Thank you for meeting with us, the first thing we want to go over is-”

“Wait, hold on a second”, Joey interrupted pulling his left index finger high into the air to get everyone’s attention, “Based off the body language of the young Kryptonian and the female martian disguised as a human, I can tell that they’re both a little skeptical of meeting with me today. I can also see that the Atlantean is crossing his arms in a firm fashion which tells me that all isn’t as mellow as expected to be. Mister Grayson’s facial patterns are somewhat concealing as well and I assume that’s a front to hide what he’s actually thinking. As for you, I’m guessing that you’re most eager to speak with me today as my skills are unmatched with even the most educated groundbreakers. It’s either that or you find me boyishly charming and handsome which I won’t deny that I am”.

The Team was gobsmacked, even the usually unfazeable Dick Grayson was surprised by Joey’s observant deductions about him and his allies’ physical behavior and subtle social cues. No one uttered a word for a solid couple of minutes before one of the more obvious questions popped into M’gann’s mind 

“How did you know I was a martian? Let alone all of the other stuff about us?”, she asked incredulously.

“Skills”, Joey simply responded with a smug smirk.

“First of all, I do not find you “boyishly charming and handsome” in any capacity”, Artemis said, still in shock and now irritation, “Second of all, would it kill you to have a little humility?”

“Hu-mil-itee? Not in my vocabulary, and I speak English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Arabic, and Klingon!”

“Anyway, back to the subject matter at hand, you already spoke with Jefferson about possibly joining our ranks, correct?” asked Kaldur, ignoring Joey’s snide behavior.

“Black Lightning? Yeah, we talked. He left my house a little early though, my first model relaxing lounge chair gave him a bad back. However, he did seem enthused about having me around as a technical aide”. 

“Good, we also wanted to discuss-”

“My inventions? Oh, brilliant! I was hoping we could talk about them”, Joey said enthusiastically, he was quite excited about discussing what made him the genius he is today.

“Can you please not interrupt me?” Kaldur asked, with a twitching eyebrow of slight agitation.

“Of course, fish sticks”, Joey teased, which earned a frown from Kaldur.

“We also wanted to discuss your lineage, we all know that your father is one of our sworn enemies and there’s some mild hesitation in bringing you on board because of that”.

“I know, Grayson tapped into my phone and computers due to those suspicions. He also followed me around when I was doing menial tasks like going to the grocery store and buying new equipment to build my edible bird feeder!”

Dick didn’t know what to say, “Mister Grayson, you may be one step ahead, but Joseph William Wilson is always one-hundred steps ahead”.

The room was now even more silent than it was moments ago, some of the original Team members were staring at Joey with their eyes narrowed, while some just looked to the side somewhat unsure if they wanted to even consider bringing him into the mix anymore. Realizing his error, Joey untightened the tie around his neck and let out a large sigh.

“I-I sense that I may have been a little too… myself during this video interview”, Joey commented bashfully as he rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, “I may not be one for social interaction, but I know that I made you all uncomfortable. I apologize for my unorthodox ways, even if I’m pretty great”.

“Your apology is accepted”, Dick said wanting to get back to the video call, “I think now the most important question is-”

“I know what you’re going to say, and I’m _nothing_ like my family. My father’s a sinister, callous murderer who will take down anyone to reach his goals. I haven’t seen my sister in a while, but I most definitely know that my brother and I have even less in common than me and my father”, Joey stated emphatically, “ _No one_ is like Grant Wilson”. 

Silence fell throughout the room, the mere mention of the name “Grant Wilson” sent shivers down the spines of anyone. 

“I’ll bring whatever I can to the table, I know that my work can be useful to anyone who wants to play the superhero game. I-I just need you all to know that creating these gadgets is really the only thing I can do considering what other fields you guys excel in. I’m not someone who’s faster than a speeding bullet or can leap buildings in one bound. What you see is what you get, I’m not the next big hero that will save the day and I most likely won’t ever be”, Joey said becoming surprisingly self-deprecating. 

“Being a hero doesn’t require you to have superpowers or shine in martial arts or archery. It’s the burning passion inside you to do good is what makes one a hero. What we see before us is someone who can be more than a subordinate, but a friend”, said Dick with a cool, yet comforting tone. Even if Joey was analytic to a fault, Dick was also quite the deducer himself as he was the student of the world’s greatest detective. Smiling, Joey tightened his necktie and made sure his coat lapels were sticking up. 

“I’ll be here front and center when you need me, what do you say?”

The Team shared brief exchanges with one another, it wasn’t until Kaldur replied that Joey got his definitive answer.

“Welcome to our ranks, Joey Wilson”.

Joey began to point his fingers at the screen and shaked his hands up-and-down excitedly, “You won’t regret this, I’ll tell you guys everything I know about my family. Not only that, but the apparatuses that will be in your lives now will be beyond expectations. Now the first invention I wanted to discuss was-”

Suddenly, a loud alarm was heard all throughout Joey’s home. He didn’t panic at all though, just slightly annoyed by this inconvenience, “I apologize once again, my nuclear-powered easy bake oven is going off again. I’ll have to talk with you all again soon, but one last comment to Miss Crock if I may?”

“Yes?”

“Call me”, Joey said with a cheeky smile as he made the “call-me” sign with his right hand, “Oh dear, it looks like it’s going to blow! Catch you all on the flip side!”

Joey’s screen turned to black as Artemis closed down on the laptop, “Can you believe that guy? He tried to flirt with me when we set up this meeting, but couldn’t stop rambling on about how polar bears should not be trusted with power tools”.

“I don’t know, he was kinda cute in a geek chic sense”, M’gann teased, which earned a light punch to her arm from Artemis.

“Are we sure about bringing him on board?”, Conner asked Dick and Kaldur.

“Everyone deserves at least one chance at proving themselves”, Kaldur responded.

“And besides”, Dick said, pulling up a photo on his phone, “We’re going to need all the help we can get in taking down the other Wilsons”.

The picture that he pulled up was of a deceased man completely ensnared in what looked to be duct tape. Spray painted over his body in red paint, or what was assumed to be red paint, were the words, “G. WILSON”. 

“I can’t even talk about what he did to this poor man when you unravel all of the duct tape off of him”, Dick said crossing his arms, trying his best not to think about Grant Wilson’s heinous act.

“We’ve got to stop Grant and his father”, Kaldur commented, “No matter who we bring on, they can’t be as bad as them”.

As far as they were concerned, Joey Wilson was one of their few shots at ridding the world of the other members of the Wilson family. 


	2. Demonstrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joey makes his first impressions with the Team.

**THE WATCHTOWER**  
March 24, 18:05 

“Good work everyone! We all did awesome jobs today!”

Tigress was so proud of her teammates as she addressed the Team with unbridled pride. Each and every current member of the Team stood before their new leader being debriefed after their most current missions. Alpha Squad, consisting of Nightwing, Miss Martian, Thirteen, and Halo, were assigned to take down a ring of black market merchants who were dealing out ability-enhancing drugs to potential buyers. Meanwhile, Beta Squad, who were made up of Tigress, Robin, Arrowette, Spoiler, and Orphan, had to stop the diabolical Ratcatcher from broadcasting a message from the sewers of Gotham City that would brainwash the entire city’s population into following his every order. Both squads were ultimately victorious with the dealers being detained and the Ratcatcher being defeated and taken to Belle Reve. A relaxed, yet still satisfied Tigress began to shut down all of the holo-computers that were previously used during the debriefing. However, Tigress’s bright demeanor suddenly vanished as she looked at one of the holo-computers that displayed the time and frowned. 

“Excuse me, Tigress?”, asked a voice coming from the peanut gallery.

Tigress turned around and saw that it was Thirteen, the Team’s young magic user, who was trying to get her attention.

“Yes? What is it, Thirteen?”

“Uh, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but is everything alright?”

“Why would it not be?”

“You looked a little bit irritated when you saw the clock”, Thirteen said, rubbing her hand against the back of her neck in slight embarrassment. 

Tigress sighed, “There’s no harm done in asking questions, Thirteen. To answer your question honestly, I’m indeed quite annoyed right now. A new colleague of ours was supposed to have shown up a while ago, but-”

The sound of the Zeta-Tube being activated interrupted Tigress. Coming out of Zeta-Beam was Kaldur’ahm, dressed in his Aquaman attire, and standing next to him was Joey. Compared to what he wore last time on the video call, Joey sported a dark green frock coat with the lapels sticking up once again. Underneath the coat was an azure blue dress shirt and a vermillion necktie that had a silver tie clip on it. Joey also had on a pair of grey tweed trousers and brown brogue shoes. The duo were both carrying heavy boxes that were filled with an assortment of gadgets and other devices that Joey created in the past. However, the most intriguing thing that was being carried was an acoustic guitar that had a purple guitar strap mounted on the side of the musical instrument. Joey had the guitar strapped around his torso as both him and Aquaman made their way to the Team.

“Apologies, we didn’t mean to be late, but Mister Wilson insisted on bringing all of these inventions of his to the debriefing”, stated a mildly displeased Aquaman, who shot an irked look at the man standing next to him. 

“If you had given me access to this flying rock in the sky prior to the meeting, we wouldn’t have had to stop by my house and pick up my contraptions. I could’ve just dropped them off and been on my way, I doubt that you would’ve wanted me hacking into this place’s security databases”, Joey responded back snippily, “Which would’ve been incredibly easy by the way”.

“We were not giving you access to the Watchtower just to deliver these simple tools”, replied Aquaman in a firm, demanding tone.

Without any warning, Joey dropped the heavy box that he was holding onto Aquaman’s left foot. Aquaman winced in pain while Joey whipped out his guitar and began to tune the instrument.

“Whoops”, Joey said indifferently, “Shouldn’t have called my inventions “tools”, Captain Ahab”.

Aquaman looked absolutely furious right now, the Atlantean’s enraged glare was quite jarring when compared to his usual stoic nature. Tigress could sense his anger and stepped in before anything else happened, “Joey, care to explain why you brought a guitar?”

“Why didn't I bring a guitar? You never know when you're going to need to play some music”, said Joey, as he began strumming away on his guitar.

“It’s nice to finally meet you in person, Joey”, Miss Martian said warmly, as she floated over to Joey extending her hand for an amicable handshake. Joey stopped playing his guitar and stared rather awkwardly at the hand being offered to him as a polite gesture. He proceeded to grasp onto it with both hands and shook it vigorously for around ten seconds before stopping. Miss Martian gave him a perplexed look as Joey gazed around to see the entire room was now staring at him in confusion.

“Uh, I'm not someone who's used to being around… people”, Joey bashfully commented, as he held his guitar tightly to himself almost as if it was a security blanket. 

“Why don't you introduce yourself to the others, buddy?”, inquired Nightwing, as he walked over to Joey and the other senior members of the Team. 

“Salutations, boys and girls!”, Joey said as buoyantly as he could, “Well, I don't think “salutations” is a term used much anymore when greeting someone. That honestly sounds like a greeting an elderly man from the late eighteen hundreds would use. I also don't think any of you count as “boys and girls” either. I mean, you are boys and girls, but that's usually said when addressing kindergartners and I don't believe any of you are in kindergarten”.

“Joey?”, said Nightwing, trying to get his attention as he was speaking at rapid speed. 

“Back to the point, I'm Joseph William Wilson, but you can call me “Joey”. I'm a Harvard graduate and I'm twenty-two years old. For anyone wondering, my birthday is the twenty-fifth of July and I was born at midnight exactly. I'm about five foot ten and weigh one hundred and sixty pounds for anyone who's interested. I stick to a fairly balanced diet, but I avoid peanuts, shellfish, macaroni, baked beans, and anything excessively drenched in thousand island dressing like the plague. I make gizmos, doohickeys, and tools, but only I'm allowed to call my incredible inventions “tools”. I'm hopeful to demonstrate a couple of my babies here today, I've been working on them for quite a while now”.

“Joey!”, Tigress said considerably louder, it was made quite clear that Joey was rambling now and it was quite hard to make out everything that he was trying to say.

“A bit of fun trivia about me, I like to sing, play my guitar, read books, play chess, and watch _Battlestar Galactica_. My favorite color is purple, I love eating fresh, homemade waffles for breakfast, and I get along quite swimmingly with children and infants. I've been told by my therapist, Dr. S. Snyder, that I often use a façade of egotism and mild flirtatiousness to cover up my nervousness and lack of social skills. That's somewhat tough considering I'm still not what you'd call the most companionable guy in the room. Furthermore, when discussing what else my therapist has said about me, I-”

 _“JOEY!”_ , the entire senior Team shouted at the top of their lungs. Joey turned around to see them giving him annoyed looks as he loosened his tie in embarrassment.

“Sorry, I need to talk slower sometimes”. 

“Where did you find this guy?”, asked Arrowette.

“We picked him up at the pound”, quipped Tigress. 

“Getting back to the topic at hand, I’d like to introduce to you all my first master innovation”, said an excited Joey. He proceeded to quickly dig through the box he was carrying and pulled out a small metallic case that was about the length of a ruler. Opening up the case, Joey took out a small purple pellet that glowed with radiant luminosity. No bigger than a gumball and with exactly twelve pellets in the case, it didn’t look at all intimidating nor applicable in a fight.

“These are compact gelatinous incendiaries designed to eject a brobdingnagian barrage of sticky semifluid matter that is useful in various scenarios. For those who aren’t on the level of circumlocutory intellectualism as me, these are a special kind of explosive pellets that can spew out masses of sticky goo”.

“So they’re like Robin’s explosive pellets and Arrowette’s trick arrows?”, asked Spoiler.

“Not quite, they can do more than just ensnare enemies and break your fall”, Joey responded with a childlike grin, as he chucked one of the pellets many feet away from him. The pellet burst open to reveal a cascade of foam that surrounded a good portion of the farther side of the Watchtower.

“Wait for it”, Joey said, alleviating the potential impatience from his associates. The foam began to suddenly sizzle as if it was an illegal firecracker and a loud explosion was heard from inside it. A dome was formed from the foam and smoke suddenly began to seep through the bottom of the makeshift hemisphere. Everyone was slightly taken aback by this as Joey walked over to the dome and began to examine it. 

“Interesting”.

“Joey, what did you just do?”, asked Tigress.

“I must’ve mistakenly pulled out the pellets that create a small explosive charge and cover it with a protective shell to avoid any kind of injuries from the user. I was initially trying to demonstrate that some of the pellets can turn into fibrous strands of cable that can seize anyone with ease”. 

“So now there’s a giant hole in the floor of the Watchtower?!”, asked a distressed, inflamed Aquaman.

“Don’t worry, the foam is easy to cut through in about an hour and I assume you can fix these damages with your Justice League funding”, Joey answered, indifferent to Aquaman’s chagrin. He ran back to the box and his audience while Aquaman and Tigress walked back sharing dissatisfied glances with one another.

“Please tell us that this next invention of yours won’t cause any costly damages?”, asked Nightwing.

“Very unlikely, this next spectacular revolution in the field of superhero accessories is sure to blow everyone away”, Joey said, turning his attention to Arrowette, “Little Miss Robin Hood? May you come forward please?”

“First of all, it’s Arrowette”, Arrowette replied, disinterested in his nickname for her, “And second of all, what do you need me for?”

“For this”, retorted Joey, as he pulled out a long, silver-colored arrow that had a red tip at the end of it. Arrowette’s attention was now slightly piqued as she held onto the middle section of the arrow with interest. 

“As soon as I was told that there was an archer on your team, my astronomically huge mind remembered an old prototype “trick arrow” that I created a few years ago”.

“No way!”, an energized Arrowette said with complete elation, “What does it do?”

“I have no idea”.

Silence fell throughout the Watchtower as everyone looked at Joey with expressions ranging from discomfiture to irritation.

“What do you mean “you don’t know”, you said you had an “astronomically huge mind” and whatnot?”, asked Tigress.

“He’s probably compensating for something”, Nightwing whispered jestingly to Robin. 

“Over the past couple of years, I’ve accumulated over thousands of diverse mechanisms that all differ in various ways. I’ve made edible saddles that can be placed on the backs of horses and act as a source of nutritional nourishment if in a dire situation. I once invented a communications device that can translate the thoughts of animals, but only in a comedically irritating Norwegian accent. I don’t have time to remember what that arrow does, I just thought you’d like it as you’re an archer and it’d be like giving a musician a new microphone”. 

“Except in this case, this “musician” doesn’t know what this “microphone” does!”, complained Arrowette.

“For all we know, this could be another explosive”, chimed in Thirteen.

“Or perhaps it releases knock-out gas?”, added Robin.

Nightwing chuckled as he turned to Aquaman, “Maybe it can attract all of sea life like in that ridiculous cartoon you once showed us?”

“Unfortunately, my last arrow that had telepathic aquatic abilities was the unfortunate victim of a spilled cup of coffee”, Joey replied, as he began to dig through the box once again, “You’re more than welcome to keep it, Katniss. For my final showcase of the night, I’d like a volunteer in the form of a living Motherbox”.

The Team’s attention was now on Halo, who slowly crept forward in curiosity, “Hello Joseph William Wilson, I’m Violet Harper, but “Halo” is my codename. It’s very nice to meet you”.

“Nice to meet you too, Violet”, Joey said politely, but still not with his full attention on her, “Clarify with me, but you have the power of self-resurrection correct?”

“Indeed! I can self-heal nearly any injury with my powers. I can also fly, create force fields, and I can-”

Before she could finish her sentence, Joey did something that no one could have expected to happen. Much to everyone’s horror, Joey quickly pulled out a sharpened dagger with a black handle and drove it deep into Halo’s chest. The blade came out of her back and Joey held on tightly to the handle. Halo’s pupils dilated as she gasped desperately for air, blood was starting to flow from her back and in the front of her chest. She fell to her knees as her teammates and superiors couldn’t believe what they were witnessing. Joey pulled the dagger out of her body and grabbed two cupped apparatuses and placed them on her fresh wounds.

“JOEY! STOP!”, screamed Tigress.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”, hollered Nightwing, as he restrained Joey and knocked the dagger from out of his hands. 

“Don’t worry, take a look!”

Halo’s healing powers luckily kicked in as her entire aura became a shade of bright violet. However, the device that was placed on her chest and back was keeping all the blood she was losing. As more blood came out, the machine’s cupped section grew larger to sustain the amount of blood that was coming out of her. After a minute of healing herself, Halo slowly stood back up with the assistance of Miss Martian and Thirteen. The human Motherbox had an expression of incredulity on her as she placed her hands gently on Joey’s invention.

“Mind letting me go?”, asked Joey calmly, as Nightwing complied.

“You better have a good reason for stabbing one of our finest team members”, Aquaman demanded, now clenching his fists and staring at Joey with unshakable fury.

“I needed to show everyone this marvelous device in action. The cups are made from a special material found deep in the grounds of Oolong Island. They can keep any form of matter, mainly blood as you can tell, in place and not have any leaks whatsoever. A physical example was sufficient in proving this beauty’s worth and Miss Harper here was the perfect contender!”

“You _stabbed_ her with a dagger!”, Tigress snapped back, as she held Halo closely to her. 

“She can heal, I made sure to clarify”.

“Get out”, ordered Tigress, as she pointed to the Zeta-Tubes.

“I think we’ve had enough of your demonstrations for the day”, Aquaman said, agreeing with Tigress’s demand, “You aren’t welcome here for the time being, we’ll contact you once we can all agree to give you another chance. You should be grateful we aren’t terminating you from your position”.

Joey adjusted his glasses and looked around to see the unwelcoming, appalled stares that he was being given. He nodded in a downtrodden manner and ran an embarrassed hand through his messy hair, “I apologize for upsetting anyone, I’ll be on my way. It was nice to meet all of you though, I hope we can inevitably be compatriots one day”.

As soon as he began to walk away, Joey had a sudden realization as he ran back to the others, “I-I could use some help with these boxes please”.

 **GOTHAM CITY**  
March 24, 19:39

Gotham City was well-known for being a town filled with crime and those who wish to take on more unscrupulous deeds like purse snatching and carjacking. However, many tend to look over the fact that Gotham City does have some fine neighborhoods in their megalopolis of diverse citizens. One of the city’s localities that was located on Schumacher Boulevard was home to many middle-class families and those who had fair success and could afford decent sized homes in this community. At the very end of the street was a cul-de-sac that had the most eccentric house you could ever lay your eyes on. Standing at two stories tall and having a garish purple paint job, the house looked like it was painted by Andy Warhol and designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The windows were tinted cerulean and the front door was a bright chartreuse with a black-and-white outside porch. The roof had a variety of satellites that were used for different situations such as high-quality internet signals and ways to communicate with those who lived in third-world countries. The front yard was covered with an arrangement of lawn ornaments such as golden flamingos, fuschia windmills, and gnomes covered in polka dots. Driving up to the offbeat house was Joey in his periwinkle-colored Cadillac with two boxes and his guitar in the backseat. Making two strenuous trips to and from his car, Joey was successfully able to bring in both boxes and his guitar filled with his inventions. Setting them both down by his makeshift coat rack that was initially going to be an automaton servant, Joey strolled to his kitchen while attempting not to trip over the various novels that were placed all over his house. He walked up to a small silver contraption that was placed on his kitchen counter and clicked a small button on the top.

“Coffee, twelve shots of espresso, forty-six shots of cream, and seventy-one sugars please”.

The machine obeyed his command as it poured out the coffee, cream, and sugar at the same time into a _Farscape_ coffee mug. Joey waltzed over to his tangerine-colored leather couch and turned on the television, which was around one-hundred and fifty inches in diameter. Flipping through a few channels, he put down his television remote control when he found the local news.

“This is Gotham City News!”, said a bombastically exuberant news anchor, “I’m your top correspondent, Summer Gleeson, and we have breaking news on another murder by the hands of one of the world’s most infamous and deadliest killers”.

 **GOTHAM CITY DOCKS**  
March 23, 23:55

It was a day prior to Joey’s first meeting with the Team and it was closing in at midnight. There was an abandoned warehouse near the sea that hadn’t been in commission for over a decade. Once in a while, some would break into the warehouse just to hang out or get the thrill of entering in a place that was long forgotten. However, this night would be home to a grizzly scene as desperate pleas were echoing throughout one of the stockrooms in the deserted workplace. A young woman, who was no older than eighteen, was being held down tightly to a wooden table with steel chains. She had dark black hair and wore mascara that was dripping from her face from all of the crying she was doing. The tearful, afraid woman was also dressed in a scantily clad fashion that could grab anyone’s attention from miles away.

“Hello?! Hello?! Can anyone hear me?!”, she shouted in utter fear, as a man approached her slowly and quietly from the shadows. The shadows were shielding his face from her sight, but his bottom half was quite easy to make out. The man wore a black leather trench coat that went all the way down to his ankles. He had on a matching color dress shirt as well with a necktie that was as dark as his soul. The mysterious individual also wore black trousers, dark dress shoes, and also a pair of leather gloves. In his gloved hands was a dagger very similar to the one that Joey would inevitably use to impale Halo. He slowly ran the blade across her tear-covered cheek as the man let out an ominous, eerie chuckle.

“There’s something so sublime about seeing one in utter trepidation”.

“Please Mister!”, the woman begged, “I’ll give you whatever you want, my parents are absolutely loaded and they’ll pay whatever ransom you want!”

“If your family is so “loaded” like you say, then why were you sauntering along the streets in the slums of Gotham looking for people like me to pay you for your services?”

“Mister! I’m begging you! I just want to go home!”, the woman shrieked even louder, as she began to hyperventilate at her horrifying situation.

“Please don’t take this personally, I just need a new canvas. I hope you can understand”, the man in black said, apathetic to the woman’s pleas.

“I WANT TO SEE MY MOMMY! I WANT MY DADDY! I WANT TO GO HOME!”

The man smirked as his face finally came into view, “Clench your teeth, this may sting a bit”.

Screams of pain like no one had ever felt were blaring throughout the forsaken warehouse. These were the howlings of someone who was in absolute agony and was feeling every single second of it. The cries and shrieking went on for what felt like forever as no one could hear her wails for someone to aid her. After a few hours passed by, the man walked out of the room carrying a suitcase and was wiping off blood from his dagger with a piece of cloth. He chuckled as he took a moment to look back on his “masterpiece” before exiting. 

“Grant, you’ve outdone yourself again”.

Grant Wilson walked out of the warehouse and began his way back to the slums of Gotham City to find his next canvas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plenty more to come very soon! Be sure to share this link around so as many people can check it out! Feel free to leave any comments, critiques, or suggestions down below!
> 
> Peace, love, and life!
> 
> \- CTD


	3. Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In an attempt to prove his worth, Joey accidentally causes trouble for the Outsiders.

**HOLLYWOOD**  
March 30, 13:47

“Another win for the Outsiders!”

A triumphant Wonder Girl flew out from the Hub’s Zeta-Tube as Beast Boy, El Dorado, Static, and two of the Outsiders’ newest members, Terra and Superboy, tried to catch up with the energetic demigoddess. The six of them had returned from a mission involving an attack on Gotham City from one of Batman’s most intelligent foes, the Riddler. The puzzle-loving supervillain was certainly surprised to see the team of young public heroes taking on his minions rather than his usual nemesis. After the Riddler was incarcerated in Belle Reve Penitentiary once again, the Outsiders were ready to get back to their base and see how the other members did on their mission. Beast Boy, the leader of the Outsiders, received a notification from his phone from Blue Beetle after they escorted the Riddler back to Belle Reve. The remaining four Outsiders, Blue Beetle, Kid Flash, Cyborg, and Forager, were assigned to head out to Central City to apprehend the eccentric Rainbow Raider, to which they ultimately succeeded in. Interestingly, Kid Flash commented afterwards that there would be a “surprise” waiting for them when they all got back to the Hub. As everyone began to make their way into their headquarters, a rather strange noise was heard throughout the building. The Outsiders looked around in confusion trying to figure out who or what was making the commotion. 

“Is it just me or do I hear guitar music?”, asked a bewildered Static.

“Guys, look over there!”, Beast Boy shouted, as he pointed over to the mission room, which acted as a living space of sorts as well. 

Sitting on a comfortable maroon couch were Blue Beetle and Kid Flash, while Forager relaxed in a matching color chair with Cyborg leaning next to him. The foursome were watching Joey strumming away on his guitar and listening to the melody that came from the musical instrument. He was also swaying his body from side-to-side in a rhythmic pattern that was very similar to that of the moves from many rock-and-roll artists in the fifties. 

Joey wore a royal purple sweater that had a V-neck design on the front akin to that of a cricketer’s jumper. The V-neck design consisted of two arrows that were a brighter shade of purple when compared to the rest of the dark-colored sweater. Joey’s pants were as black as the night sky and had a thick horizontal violet stripe on each side of his trousers. Holding up his pants was a belt with a bright golden belt buckle that was in the shape of a guitar. Finishing up his ensemble was a pair of black sneakers that had mauve shoelaces. While he continued to play his guitar for his small, but attentive audience, Joey's attention swerved towards the other members of the Outsiders as he waved to them cheerfully.

“Hello! You've all made it just in time for my next performance! I came here to try and make amends for my misdeeds earlier in the week and met up with your fellow Outsiders here. Fortunately, I brought along my trusty guitar and was able to sit these fine gentlemen down, so they could listen to my phenomenal music”.

“Who’s this _payaso_?”, El Dorado asked, as he walked over to his current partner, Kid Flash, and pecked him affectionately on his left cheek. 

“Joey Wilson, the reincarnated amalgamation of Nikola Tesla and Elvis Presley in his own words”, Kid Flash replied, as he returned his partner’s romantic gesture with a kiss on the lips. The two have been in a relationship for over a year now, so they weren't shy about showing public displays of affection when they were around their friends. 

“Wait, isn't this the guy who stabbed Violet a few days ago at the Watchtower?”, Wonder Girl asked, while giving Joey a slightly incredulous look.

“Not only that, but aren't you also the son of Deathstroke?”, questioned Beast Boy in an interrogative voice. 

“Even worse, the brother of Grant Wilson?”, Static added, which caused everyone to become uncomfortably quiet at the mention of his brother’s name. In response to this, Joey swiftly swung his guitar behind him as it hung from his shoulders above the ground courtesy of his guitar strap. 

“It seems as if my brother and my father are the only things I'm known for around here”, Joey said in a bemused tone. 

“You're also known for running a knife through our friend!”, snapped the usually quiet, unassuming Terra. 

“How many times do I have to say this? The girl had regenerative abilities, it's not like I ran my dagger through a newborn baby!”, argued Joey.

“Still, doing something like that to someone who's supposed to be your ally doesn't exactly paint you in the best light, _amigo_ ”, Blue Beetle responded, which earned a nod of agreement from Kid Flash and El Dorado.

_“Escarabajo azul, no soy uno de los malos”._

“Any idea what Joe said?”, asked Kid Flash, who was still trying to learn Spanish from his partner and best friend, who were both fluent in the language.

“He's pretty much saying that he's one of the good guys, _amore_ ”, explained El Dorado.

“I'm sorry if I sound insensitive for bringing this up, but did you hear about the most recent murder that your brother committed?”, Wonder Girl interjected.

Joey nodded somberly as he began to tug at the collar of his sweater, “Unfortunately, I did”.

“That poor girl, she didn't deserve to die like that”, muttered a mournful, disturbed Cyborg. 

Another excruciating period of quietness was shared among the Outsiders and Joey. Merely a day after the grisly murder, the Gotham City Police Department had found the young woman who was the unfortunate victim to Grant at the docks. Similar to the prior casualties, she was covered in duct tape and the words “BEAUTY IS IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER” were written on her corpse. What happened to her wasn't released to the public, but it was enough to send the coroner into therapy after he unraveled all of the duct tape from her body. Trying to change subjects to a less gruesome matter, Superboy tried to come to Joey’s defense while also trying to raise the mood ever-so slightly. 

“Let’s try and not interrogate Joey so much. He's already been thoroughly questioned before about his lineage and has spent much time trying to make it up to Halo for the “incident” a while back”, reprimanded Superboy, “Speaking of which, what did you mean earlier by “coming here to try and make amends”, Joey?”

Joey smiled, “I wanted to wait until all of the Outsiders were present and now that everyone’s here, get ready to have your mind blown!”

Running over to the kitchen, Joey came back to the others carrying a large cardboard box filled with what appeared to be little identification cards. Grinning from ear-to-ear, he passed around a card to each Outsider before nearly half of the box was now empty. 

“Inside these bad boys is a single microchip that’s no smaller than a grain of rice. I programmed the chip to identify its user and as long as you carry this with you at all times, your new security system will be able to identify you as a non-hostile being and not a threat!”

Beast Boy’s eyes widened slightly, “Wait, what do you mean by “our new security system”, the old one was perfectly fine! It was made at S.T.A.R. Labs courtesy of over a dozen scientists and technicians!”

Joey scoffed, “Oh please, S.T.A.R. Labs technology is like comparing a TI-82 to the world’s greatest supercomputer when set side-by-side with my stupendous work!” 

“Forager hates to interrupt Joey Wilson, but when did Joey Wilson have the time to set up a new security system in Forager’s new lodgings?”

“I got here bright and early in the morning when you all left for your missions, I bribed the doorman here with a box of glazed doughnuts to let me in”, Joey happily revealed, to the Outsiders’ surprise and to the annoyance of Beast Boy.

“I need to have a serious talk with Kirby about his love for pastries”, Beast Boy grumbled, as Joey pulled out a device from his back pocket with a bright red button on the front.

“When I press down on this button, N.E.S.S.I.E. will be activated!”

“N.E.S.S.I.E?”, asked Wonder Girl.

“Network Encrypted Security System & Informative Entity”.

With excitement abound, Joey pushed his finger onto the button which enabled N.E.S.S.I.E. almost instantaneously. The entire Hub became a hue of dark byzantium as a shrill alarm rang throughout everyone’s ears. Many of the Outsiders covered their ears as Joey began to look around nervously at what was going on. 

A woman’s voice came from the ceiling, _“ELEVEN INTRUDERS DETECTED”._

“No N.E.S.S.I.E! The cards should be working!”, Joey shouted, as he proceeded to slam down on the button vigorously to stop the malfunctioning system.

_“INTRUDERS WILL BE EXTERMINATED”._

As soon as N.E.S.S.I.E. said that, a barrage of lasers began to shoot out of various openings in the walls and in the ceiling. Joey immediately ducked for cover as the activation device fell out of his hands. The Outsiders were now alert and ready for a fight, though none of them expected to be fighting their own security system.   
Wonder Girl deflected the lasers with her silver bracelets as El Dorado tried to teleport away the others to a safer location. Terra and Forager were the first to be transported to the latter’s room which was located inside the Hub. To avoid being hit by a laser, Kid Flash was by his partner’s side and more than willing to move him or anyone else out of the way courtesy of his super speed. 

Superboy tried to get to as many of N.E.S.S.I.E’s laser turrets as he could. However, the task was certainly difficult due to the sheer amount of force the lasers had despite his invulnerability. Static attempted to short circuit the turrets to no avail while Beast Boy transformed into a mouse and scurried to Joey’s side. Transforming back into himself, Garfield shot fierce daggers at Joey while underneath the makeshift shelter he made with the couch.

“Dude! How do we turn this thing off?!”

“We need to find a way to destroy the activation device!”

“Got it”, Garfield exclaimed, as he turned on his communications device that was located in his ear, “Vic! Jaime! You guys need to destroy Joey’s activator in order to shut down N.E.S.S.I.E!”

Cyborg and Blue Beetle were able to catch a glimpse of the device lying on the floor while they were trying to deflect the lasers and destroy the turrets. Blue Beetle formed a massive shield with his armor’s transformation powers and used it to cover him and Cyborg as the duo ran to the activator. Rather than use an energy blast courtesy of the cybernetic cannon in his left arm, Cyborg chose to stomp on the device which immediately caused N.E.S.S.I.E. to shut down.

“Boo-yah”, Cyborg said with a smirk, as he high-fived Blue Beetle. 

The Hub was now in shambles as there were burn marks everywhere from the lasers. No room was safe from N.E.S.S.I.E’s destruction as the mission room, the kitchen, and even the Zeta-Tube were all burnt to a crisp. Terra and Forager cautiously exited the latter’s room and their expressions turned to absolute shock. Wonder Girl and Static helped Superboy and Beast Boy get up respectively as Kid Flash ran around to see if all the turrets were non-functional. Cyborg, Blue Beetle, and Cyborg made their way towards the others as Joey sheepishly got out of his mediocre safeguard. Nearly everyone was glaring at him, none of the Outsiders were pleased at how their headquarters looked now courtesy of N.E.S.S.I.E.

“Okay, so I need to make some mild modifications to N.E.S.S.I.E”.

“MILD?!”, an enraged Beast Boy shouted, “Look at this place! It’s going to take forever to fix all of this up!”

“The windows are broken, the furniture is ruined, and pretty much everything has a gigantic hole in it now. This wasn’t your best move, _tonto idiota_ ”, said Blue Beetle. 

Joey looked around to see the other Outsiders continuing to look at him in either contempt or discomfiture. Wonder Girl placed a comforting arm on Terra as the young geokinetic looked around at her home in shock. Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Static shot resentful scowls at Joey while Forager ran to grab some Scotch tape to help “fix up the holes”. 

Blue Beetle, Kid Flash, and El Dorado walked away from the group to check on the damages that N.E.S.S.I.E. made during her rampage. However, the most disconcerting look came from Superboy as he wasn’t particularly upset nor flummoxed. The young Kryptonian only had a look of disappointment on his face as he shook his head. 

“Joey, we expected more from you”, Conner said in a disheartened tone.

Joey understood that he made a really bad mistake, he looked at the Outsiders with a look of utter dejection and embarrassment. All he wanted to do was a nice gesture for his friends to make up for his past misdemeanors. Unfortunately, Joey believed that he alienated both the Team and the Outsiders even more than he did before. 

“I can help clean up if you want-”

“I think you’ve done enough, dude”, interjected Static.

Realizing that he wasn’t welcome right now, Joey picked up his guitar, which was completely destroyed thanks to N.E.S.S.I.E’s attack, and walked towards the door leading to the stairs.

 **GOTHAM CITY**  
March 30, 16:30

“Alright, this sounds good”, Joey said, as he took a sip from his _Farscape_ coffee mug. 

Joey was now at his house and was sitting in his favorite armchair with his laptop sitting contently in his lap. Leaning next to his armchair was a new, red acoustic guitar that he purchased immediately after his old guitar was decimated by N.E.S.S.I.E’s lasers. 

“I’ll give this to fish sticks tomorrow”, Joey sorrowfully said to himself, “They’ll probably appreciate my resignation letter considering everything’s that happened”.

Joey sadly slunk in his chair as he pressed a button on his laptop that sent a signal to his printer. The printer began to slowly print out his resignation letter before ultimately short-circuiting. Inflamed by this along with all of the mistakes he’s made in the past couple days, Joey ran over to the printer and shoved it off the table it was on. 

Running to the hallway closet, he came back with a baseball bat and proceeded to angrily smash the faulty device to pieces. After releasing all of his anger out on the device, Joey threw the baseball bat to the side and sat down by the now demolished machine. 

“Completely worthless and unusable, I guess we have something in common now”.

Before Joey could do anything else, a gentle knock was heard at his front door. Perplexed, Joey got up and walked to the door as he opened it up to reveal Artemis standing there in her civilian clothes. Artemis stood there with a hand on her hip as she curiously looked around at all of Joey’s quirky lawn decorations. Joey’s eyes widened immensely as he was slightly taken aback by his unexpected guest.

“Sorry I didn’t call in advance, I thought you might want some company after what happened at the Hub”, Artemis said in a compassionate tone.

“Uh, n-no worries at all, would you like to come in?”, Joey asked, as he motioned for her to come inside. 

Smiling, she stepped inside his house and immediately noticed the obliterated printer.

“What happened here, Joe?”

“Oh, I had the printer too close to the edge”, said Joey, as he tugged nervously at the collar of his sweater.

Artemis raised an eyebrow as she pointed to the baseball bat that was inconspicuously lying next to the damaged machine, “Really? What’s with the bat then?”

“Pitching practice”.

Artemis rolled her eyes as she walked towards Joey’s hallway closet that had the door still wide open. She pulled out a dustpan and threw it to him, which unfortunately hit him in the face.

“Sorry about that, Joey”, Artemis said, “Let’s clean this up and then we’ll talk”.

With Artemis wielding a broom, the two proceeded to clean up the mess that Joey made and threw the remains in the garbage. Joey made two cups of coffee for them, one with one sugar and one cream for Artemis and one with fifteen sugars and thirty-six creams for Joey. He placed the two drinks down on his coffee table as Artemis accidentally picked up Joey’s _Farscape_ mug and took a sip from it.

“This tastes more like chocolate milk than coffee, Joey”.

“There’s a few less sugars and cream in it, I’m cutting back”.

“Let’s discuss your dietary habits later, I wanted to ask you about what happened earlier today at the Hub. I’ve heard some accounts from Beast Boy and the other Outsiders, but I wanted to hear your side of the story”.

Joey gave Artemis a saddened look as he took a deep breath, “I wanted to make a good first impression on the Outsiders and make up for what I did to Halo earlier this week. Considering my luck, I instead made their headquarters look like a giant cheese grater with so many burn holes from my failed security system”.

“They’re still trying to fix everything up, they’ll have a new Zeta-Tube coming in next week”, Artemis explained, as she took a sip from her coffee that was in a _Stargate Atlantis_ coffee mug.

“I realized that all I’ve brought to the table is nothing but misery and monetary losses. I wrote a resignation letter just now that I’m going to give to Aquaman tomorrow”.

Artemis looked at Joey with a cocked eyebrow, “You really want to leave the party now?”

“Who’d want me here anyway? I stabbed one of your teammates and I turned the Outsiders’ headquarters into a shooting range. I’m surprised you guys haven’t already fired me and erased my memory of ever being associated with the Team”.

“We don’t do memory wipes”, Artemis chuckled, “That’s a bit too _Men in Black_ , don’t you think?”

“Maybe I should lay off the sci-fi movies for a bit”, joked Joey, as Artemis placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Joey looked at her hand and proceeded to make eye contact with her before looking away quickly. Artemis couldn’t make it out properly, but she was sure that she saw him blushing a bit.

“Joey, you had good intentions when you made that security system for the Outsiders. It’s not your fault that it went haywire, it just needed to be looked into more. Plus, going back to the Halo incident, we all make mistakes, even if they’re _very big_ mistakes. The Team and the Outsiders are more than just a squad of heroes, we’re all one big family. In this family, we always give people second chances even if they’ve done something really stupid. You shouldn’t beat yourself over this too bad, we need you more than you think”.

“How so?”

“You’re one of the smartest people in the world, you can create things that no one else could even think of in their lifetime. You invented the submarine that can go faster than the speed of light and the remote control tank that can be used from one-hundred miles away! Hell, you’ve even created the pizza oven that can work as a portable generator too!”

“I’m surprised that never caught on”.

“Right, but going back to what I was saying, don’t throw in the towel just yet. We all do ridiculous things, we can either run from them or we can learn from them. What do you choose to do? Considering you have the IQ of 216, I’m hopeful that you’ll choose the right answer”.

Joey smiled warmly at Artemis, “I’ll chuck that resignation letter, thank you Artemis”.

“No problem, four-eyes”, Artemis said, as she gently punched Joey’s arm in a friendly manner.

“Why are you being so nice to me after everything I’ve done?”

“You remind me of someone I used to know way back when”, Artemis responded, as she looked away for a moment to fondly remember who she was thinking about.

“Want to stay and watch some _Babylon 5_ with me? We can talk about some new ideas I had for inventions during commercial breaks and order a pizza! Preferably without any jalapenos, mushrooms, green peppers, pineapple, sausage, or anchovies please”, asked Joey, with an enthusiastic grin on his face.

Artemis looked at Joey with a kind smile, “Of course, buddy”. 

**GOTHAM CITY**  
March 30, 22:48

The door to a building located in the slums of Gotham City opened very quietly as a man walked in wielding a dagger in his right hand. The dark shadows covered the man’s face with the only thing being visible was the outline of a wide-brimmed fedora.

Standing in front of him was a younger man dressed in a maroon gilet with a yellow-trimmed hood. He wore a matching color mask that covered the bottom half of his face along with a visor with glowing dots all over the front. The masked stranger wielded a katana in his hands as the man in the fedora walked over to him ever-so quietly and slowly. The grip on the masked individual’s weapon slightly tightened as soon as he saw the mysterious man making his way towards him.

“There’s no need for that”, the man commented in a slimy voice, as he put the dagger away in a pocket inside his coat, “Now do you have the shipment? I’m an artist who needs to have some new canvases in order to create new masterpieces”.

The masked stranger briefly walked away into another room and pulled out a crate that was being carried on a rolling flatbed cart. Various noises and muffled cries for help were heard inside of the crate as he opened up the top to reveal three young women in the vessel. The trio of scared women were no older than twenty and had tears running down their faces. 

“Please let us go!”, One of the girls cried.

“We won’t tell anyone”, Another one said, as the third one was sobbing so much that she couldn’t make out a coherent sentence. 

Smiling, the man in the fedora closed the crate as the girls continued to scream in absolute, unbridled fear. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope which he gave to the masked individual.

“That should cover it, may I ask for your name for future reference?”

The younger man in the mask sputtered a bit before revealing his name.

“J-Jason…”

“Jason, it’s very nice to meet you, you and I are going to be doing a lot of business together”, The man stated, as he put his hand out in front of Jason for a amiable handshake, “My name is Grant”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot express how excited I am to bring in more members of the Batfamily, let alone Jason Todd. Jason's inclusion at the end of this chapter will be very pivotal for future stories. A lot more exciting content is coming very soon and once again, feel free to leave any comments, critiques, or suggestions down below!
> 
> Peace, love, and life!
> 
> \- CTD

**Author's Note:**

> Back in early 2019, I tried to create a new series set within the Young Justice universe around one of the members of the Wilson family. It ultimately never got to the place I wanted it to be and I look back on it with some mild distaste as I hadn't fully mastered the art of writing a fanfiction series. Now after some heavy re-configuring, I feel like it's worth giving this another try, but with a new lead and a new story! While all of the intricate details of what the fourth season of Young Justice will look like hasn't been revealed at the time of this post, I'll do my best to imagine what comes after those game-changing events as accurately as possible. This will ultimately be a story centering around how one offbeat, but insanely intelligent individual can rise to the occasion of becoming the next great hero and stopping his family of nefarious evil-doers. As always, comments, suggestions, and criticisms are welcome in the comments below. I cannot wait to share with the world these amazing stories and characters that I'll do my very best to uphold to the original comic's standards.
> 
> Thanks to my dear friend, Hart051, for her extra assistance and well-needed suggestions!
> 
> Peace, love, and life!
> 
> \- CF


End file.
